Traditional vending machines provide sellers with the ability to offer products to consumers in an automated fashion, thereby allowing the sale of products at places where face-to-face retailing efforts are not practical (e.g. the lobby of an office building) and at times inconvenient for traditional retailers (e.g. 3 AM on a Tuesday morning). However, traditional vending machines do not permit the flexibility enjoyed by human retailers in dynamically responding to changes in supply and demand.
Applicants have previously recognized that significant benefits ensue from vending machines configured to dynamically respond to market forces. For example, Applicants' co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/947,798, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY MANAGING VENDING MACHINE INVENTORY PRICES and filed Oct. 9, 1997, enables the automated, dynamic pricing of vended products based on stored rules that consider up-to-date supply and demand data gathered when no human salesperson is present. Further, Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/095,372, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VENDING A COMBINATION OF PRODUCTS and filed Mar. 11, 2002, enables the automated, dynamic configuration of promotional product combinations based on supply and demand data. Further still, Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/218,085, entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR VENDING PRODUCTS and filed Dec. 22, 1998, enables the automatic selection of products for customers based on supply and demand data. Additionally, Applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/345,092, entitled VENDING MACHINE SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ENCOURAGING THE PURCHASE OF PROFITABLE ITEMS and filed Jun. 30, 1999, enables the presentment of offers for substitute products based on supply and demand data.
The advantages of the inventions described in the above applications are significant. However, given the complexity of the marketplace, an ongoing need exists for vending machine systems and methods that dynamically respond to market forces. More specifically, an ongoing need exists for vending machine systems and methods that dynamically institute promotional tactics in a beneficial manner (e.g., in a manner that increases overall machine profit).
Further, many potential customers of prior art vending machines are unable to purchase items when machines require “correct change only”. A vending machine may require “correct change only” when the machine contains an insufficient amount of machine coin inventory that may be used to provide customers with change. Accordingly, a need exists for systems and methods that preserve vending machine coin inventory so that more customers may purchase vending machine products despite their inability to tender exact change, thus resulting in fewer losses of potential sales.